This invention relates to a processed meat product made from a paste of poultry or animal meat, and a process for preparing the product.
In Japan it is well known in the processed food industry to prepare meat products from a paste of meat of such different kinds of fish as cod, lizard fish, croakers, sea eels, etc. by adding seasonings, spices, etc. to the meat of such fish, grinding the mixture to produce a paste of the fish meat, shaping the paste into tubular pieces, steaming, cooling and packaging the pieces. One of such processed seafood products is "chikuwa", which is made by molding a paste of fish meat around a cylindrical core, heat-coagulating the paste and removing the core to obtain a tubular piece of heat-coagulated paste.
In preparing such processed meat products as mentioned above, if the amount of water to be added to the meat paste is insufficient, the paste becomes too hard to be able to be subjected to shaping by an automatic shaping machine. If the amount of water is too much, it becomes difficult to shape the paste into pieces by the automatic shaping machine and the product becomes too soft to the touch in the mouth when eaten and loses the inherent flavor and taste of the meat material.
In view of the foregoing difficulty, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-169728 discloses a process for preparing a "chikuwa"-shaped processed meat product, wherein water is added to a meat in an amount of 20 to 40% by weight of the meat, and the mixture is kneaded with seasonings, spices and table salt, and shaped by an automatic shaping machine, steamed and cooled to produce "chikuwa"-shaped pieces of food.
The present inventors have conducted various studies and experiments to solve the above problem and prepare a "chikuwa"-like product which is low in fat content, and superior in taste, flavor and mouthfeel, and which can be easily formed by the use of an automatic "chikuwa"-forming machine even if the water content of the meat material exceeds 40% by weight thereof.
The experiments the inventors have conducted are as follows:
(1) The experiment conducted to test the effect of the amount of water added to the material on the plasticity thereof.
24 kg of chicken meat was chopped by means of a 6-mm blade and divided into 24 parts each consisting of 1 kg of the chopped chicken meat. To twelve of the 24 parts of chopped chicken meat was added water in amounts of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 and 110% by weight, respectively, per 1 kg of the chicken meat, together with 2% by weight of table salt. Each of the 12 mixtures was ground by a food processor for 10 minutes to obtain a mass of paste or "surimi". Each of the 12 masses was formed by an automatic "chikuwa"-forming machine into a plurality of "chikuwa"-shaped pieces, which were baked by an electric baking machine and used as controls in the experiment.
To the remaining 12 parts of the chopped chicken meat was added water in amounts of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 and 110% by weight, respectively, per 1 kg of the chicken meat, together with 2% by weight of table salt and 0.5% by weight of sodium carbonate. Each of the 12 mixtures was ground for 10 minutes by a food processor installed in a vacuum desiccator set to 35 torr to obtain a mass of paste or "surimi". Each of the 12 masses was formed by the automatic "chikuwa"-forming machine into a plurality of "chikuwa"-shaped pieces of chicken meat paste, which were baked by the baking machine and used as samples in the experiment.
Sensory tests were conducted on the samples and controls, with 10 persons as panelists. The results of the tests are given in Table 1.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Amount of water added (% by weight of the amount of meat) ______________________________________ 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 ______________________________________ Controls Bad Bad Good Good Good Bad Bad Samples Bad Bad Good Good Good Excellent Excellent ______________________________________ 70 80 90 100 110 ______________________________________ Controls Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad Samples Excellent Excellent Good Good Bad ______________________________________
In the table the evaluation "excellent" means that all of the 10 panelists felt the product had excellent flavor, taste, and mouthfeel. The evaluation "good" means that five to nine of the 10 panelists felt the product had good flavor, taste and mouthfeel, and the evaluation "bad" means that all of the 10 panelists felt the product had bad flavor, taste and mouthfeel.
In the controls, with less than 20% by weight of water the paste was too hard to be gelled. With more than 50% by weight of water, the paste was too soft to be formed into "chikuwa"-shaped pieces. In the samples, however, with 20 to 100% by weight of water it was possible to make a "chikuwa"-like product from the paste of chicken meat. In particular, with 50 to 80% by weight of water it was possible to obtain a "chikuwa"-like product having excellent flavor, taste and mouthfeel.
The tension strength of both the controls and samples was measured by means of a rheometer manufactured by Rheotec Co., Ltd., Japan. For the measurement, the product was cut into 2-mm thick annular slices. With the plunger of the rheometer inserted into the central hole of a slice, it was tensioned until it was broken. The tension strength was indicated by the load in terms of gram on the slice when it was broken. The results of the measurement are given in Table 2, wherein the term "Impossible" (abbreviated to "Imp.") means that the measurement was impossible.
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ Amount of water added (% by weight of the amount of meat) ______________________________________ 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 ______________________________________ Controls Imp. Imp. 510 650 500 Imp. Imp. Imp. Samples Imp. Imp. 650 700 760 830 850 820 ______________________________________ Controls 80 90 100 110 ______________________________________ Samples Imp. Imp. Imp. Imp. 800 750 600 Imp. ______________________________________
As in the sensory tests, the samples to which 20 to 100% by weight of water was added had a tension strength suitable for "chikuwa"-like processed food. In particular, the samples to which 50 to 80% by weight of water was added had higher levels of tension strength despite the high water content.
(2) The experiment to test the effect of alkali on the plasticity of the product.
9 kg of chicken meat was chopped by means of a 6-mm blade and divided into 9 parts each consisting of 1 kg of the chopped chicken meat. To each of the 9 parts of chopped chicken meat were added 60% by weight of water and 2% by weight of table salt per 1 kg of the meat. Further, to the 9 mixtures was added sodium carbonate in amounts of 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2% by weight, respectively. Each of the 9 mixtures was ground by the food processor installed in the desiccator set to a vacuum of 40 torr for 10 minutes to obtain a mass of paste or "surimi". Each of the 9 masses was formed by the automatic "chikuwa"-forming machine into a plurality of "chikuwa"-shaped pieces, which were baked by the electric baking machine.
Sensory tests were conducted on the product with 10 persons as panelists, and the tension strength of the product was measured. The results of the tests and measurement are given in table 3.
TABLE 3 ______________________________________ Amount of Na.sub.2 CO.sub.3 added (% by weight of the amount of ______________________________________ meat) 0 0.05 0.10 0.20 0.40 0.60 ______________________________________ Evalua- Bad Bad Good Excellent Excellent Excellent tion Tension Imp. 500 650 710 800 860 strength (g) ______________________________________ 0.80 1.00 1.20 ______________________________________ Evalua- Excellent Good Bad tion Tension 900 780 650 strength (g) ______________________________________
The samples to which sodium carbonate was added in amounts below 0.05 and above 1.20% by weight were inferior as a "chikuwa"-like processed food of chicken meat paste. The samples to which sodium carbonate was added in an amount between 0.1 to 1.0% by weight were superior in flavor, taste, and mouthfeel and in tension strength.
(3) The experiment to test the effect of vacuum on the plasticity of the product.
5 kg of chicken meat was chopped by means of a 6-mm blade and divided into 5 parts each consisting of 1 kg of the chopped chicken meat. To each of the 5 parts of chopped chicken meat were added 60% by weight of water, 2% by weight of table salt and 0.4% by weight of sodium carbonate. The 5 mixtures were ground by the food processor installed in the vacuum desiccator set to different degrees of vacuum at 10, 50, 100, 380 and 760 torr, respectively, for 10 minutes to obtain five (5) masses of paste or "surimi". Each of the 5 masses was formed by the automatic "chikuwa"-forming machine into a plurality of "chikuwa"-shaped pieces of chicken meat paste, which were baked by means of the electric baking machine.
Sensory tests were conducted on the product with 10 persons as panelists, and the tension strength was measured. The results of the tests and measurement are given in table 4.
TABLE 4 ______________________________________ Vacuum (torr) 10 50 100 380 760 ______________________________________ Evaluation Excellent Excellent Good Bad Bad Tension 910 860 800 500 Impossible strength (g) ______________________________________
The product obtained by grinding the material under a vacuum below 100 torr was superior in flavor, taste and mouthfeel and in tension strength.
Based on the results of the above experiments the present inventors have successfully achieved the object of the invention by adding to the material an alkaline substance within a particular range of amount and grinding the material under a vacuum within a particular range. The product prepared in accordance with the invention is superior in flavor, taste and mouthfeel and low in fat content despite a relatively large amount of water added to the material.